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Though I can’t watch any Euro 2012 matches, except for weekends, because I live in the other side of the planet, I make sure I am updated with the team standings, especially those teams I am supporting, like Spain.

Well tonight will be an exciting match as two strong teams battle for the spot in the final. It’s going to be my favorite Spain v. Portugal, which is also a favorite because of Ronaldo. Haha…. Well but my heart beats more for Spain, my distant relatives. Hahaha… Hey, I am part Spanish, I have 0.00000001 % Spanish blood in my veins. LOL. So my dear Cristiano, I’m sorry but I am supporting my brothers tonight. Mi hermanos!

Well, may the best team win! I won’t be able to watch since it will on at 3am, Manila time, so I will just watch the highlights tomorrow morning.

Vamos España!!!

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Congrats to my boys! Congrats Real Madrid for winning your 32nd La Liga title. So proud of you all! You deserve this title because you all worked hard for it. Wish I am in Madrid to celebrate! Woohoo!!! Hala Madrid! Campeones!!!

Last night was the 2nd game of the semi-final match between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. I didn’t get to watch it live like I did over the weekend during the La Liga match with Barcelona because the game started at 2:45am in my side of the world. But as soon as I woke up this morning, I reached for my phone and checked who won… RMA’s captain Iker Casillas FB updates read: “Real Madrid 2 (Ronaldo) – 1 Munich (Robben)”. I was like “Yes! We won!”

I was so happy, very positive and even shared the news to my cousin that Madrid will face Chelsea in the Final…. until I reached the office, googled for the result and read, ” Bayern and Chelsea in the Final”…

“WHAT? NO WAY!”I read it again and yes it says, “Bayern Munich” not Real Madrid. Damn! I actually forgot that during the first game (away match), the score was 2-1 also in favor of Munich, so that means, it was a tie. So there was a penalty shootout. Unfortunately, Munich won with 3-1 during the shootout.

I didn’t know how it happened, but Cristiano Ronaldo and my favorite Kaka were both denied to score in the penalty round. It was heart breaking. 😦 When I watched the highlights and saw Kaka so disappointed, I felt so sad. 😦

But despite the result, Santiago Bernabéu gave Madrid a huge round of applause at the end. I wish I was there to show support to the guys, especially in this difficult times. I am still very proud of the boys, so I still would say,

“HALA MADRID!”

Anyway, congratulations to Munich. They will be facing the Chelsea who ousted the current champion Barca just the other night.

So who will I cheer now in the Final? Chelsea!!!

Here are some pictures from the last night’s match:

Real Madrid boys, after Ronaldo's goal.

"The Bernabéu gave Madrid a huge round of applause at the end, but it is Bayern who reached the final." - guardian.co.uk

Iker and Mourinho - I love these two men!

The crowd at Santiago Bernabeu. I wish I was there to cheer for the Whites!

Last night, an exciting La Liga match between my favorite Real Madrid and its archrival Barcelona, known as “El Clasico” happened at Camp Nou, Barca’s home stadium. I stayed up late, like until 4am because I just can’t miss the game. I just have to watch it live! It was pretty exciting and awesome, especially because my boys won! Yey! With a 2-1 score, Madrid is now leading by 7 points in La Liga and they’re just 3 games away from winning the title. Woohoo!!! Although I was hoping Kaka would play because it was the eve of his birthday (April 22) and I thought it would be nice to see him play in the pitch, score a beautiful goal and win the match. It would have been a nice birthday for my favorite Kaka. It is still a great birthday present from God though, that his team won last night. I am really happy for my boys!

Congrats Real Madrid!

El Clasico - Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona

"Calm down, calm down" - Cristiano Ronaldo after he scored the 2nd goal that made Real Madrid the "El Clasico" winner last night.

I just love this picture of these two managers. Jose Mourinho cheering for the Real Madrid boys and Pep Guardiola shouting at his Barca players. 🙂

And happy 30th birthday to my most favorite athlete in the world – KAKA! May our Lord Jesus bless you more and more my dear brother in Christ! So proud of you.

Well, last month Ida from OMF told me about the possibility of my favorite football team, Real Madrid to come to Manila. And I read it from the news again today. The super rich Filipino businessman Manny Pangilinan (ahem, uncle Manny? LOL) is currently in the talks and still ironing things out for the REAL MADRID tour to my very own Philippines! OMG! I will be the happiest person in Manila if the happens! haha 😀

Real Madrid Campeon Copa Del Rey 2011 (google images)

It will be a dream come true to meet my favorite footballer ever – Ricardo Kaka! And Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas and the whole team. Wow, how cool is that. And I certainly won’t miss that chance if that plan pushes through. I won’t let it pass. So I sincerely hope and pray that it will happen. 🙂 I’m super excited!

There has been a recent commotion online (at least among Filipinos, particularly Filipino English teachers) due to a video clip circulating in cyberspace about how this certain Korean actress, Lee Da Hae, apparently insulted the English skills of Filipinos in one of the shows of KBS. (KBS already pulled out all the videos in youtube, claiming copyrights although we all know that they just want to save Lee Da Hae’s ass.)

I was able to watch it and even though the show was in Korean, they flashed the flags of USA, UK and the Philippines, enough for non-Korean speaking viewers to understand that they were talking about these 3 countries. Lee Da Hae, who as claimed speaks English well as she stayed in Australia for 5 years to study, tried talking or mimicking English teachers from the different countries mentioned above as requested by the hosts. She was asked to say “Excuse me. I’m a little bit thirsty. Can I have a glass of water please?” First was the American, which to me, (I am not American though) doesn’t sound American, but the pronunciation was okay… the accent was neutral. Second, apparently was a British accent, and again, it doesn’t sound too British to me (I know this because I have a British friend who I talk to almost everyday since 2006), except on how she pronounced the word “water”, omitting the ‘r’ in the end. Then finally, the Filipino way, which turned out to be, yes I have to say, insulting because we don’t speak English that way. I think she intends to be funny, but some Filipinos didn’t find it amusing at all.

With the strong influence of the West to the Philippines, particularly the USA, which can be traced almost 100 years back, Filipinos speak English either the same as the native speakers or at least in a neutral accent. While I won’t deny that some Filipinos have regional accent due to their dialects spoken in their hometowns, I would say, a majority of Filipinos do speak English well.

But which accent really is better? The argument on which English accent is better is never ending. I heard some claiming American English is better as it is easier to understand. To others, it is the British English. And more than once, I even heard some people from the UK sarcastically asked, “What American English? Is there such a thing?” For most Filipinos who (even though I hate to say this, but this is the truth) have this ‘Everything American’ attitude (thanks to the Western influence and the ever growing call center industry that killed the patriotism of the present generation), being able to speak English like the Americans is essential as it is considered (at least in our society) as a status symbol. They feel as though speaking like the Americans somehow put them in the (imaginary) pedestals. It is as if they are superior to those who know little or can’t speak the language.

Filipinos are also known as the English grammar Nazis, particularly those who are living in the major cities. (I have to admit, I am sometimes, okay most of the time, a grammar Nazi myself, however I make sure that I don’t offend others when I try to correct them.) Yet, despite of that, Filipinos still have flaws in their English skills, often in pronunciation and grammar and so are the native speakers of English. I mean, who doesn’t commit grammar mistakes? All of us do. Who hasn’t mispronounced words? We all have.

This actually reminds me of a conversation I had with my friend’s wife after I posted a hot picture of Cristiano Ronaldo in my facebook account (Yes, that one you can see above! :P) during the height of World Cup 2010. She asked me if I have seen the Castrol ad of him. That time, I haven’t and asked her jokingly, ‘Why? Is he also looking hot in that ad?” She answered, “Actually, it’s not about that. It’s when he talked. It was the worst English accent that I have ever heard.” And I was like, ‘Duh?! He is Portuguese. What do you expect? It’s not his native language.’ I found her comment so annoying. Of course for a person whose first language isn’t English, would you expect him to speak so well and with all that phony accent? Come on! I actually like the way he speaks English in his accent and I think it makes him sexier. 😀

Seriously, why are people so crazy about the accent? And going back to my question, so “Which English accent is better?” Or is there such a thing as a “better English accent?” I don’t think so. Accent is influenced by geographical location of the person. An Italian can speak English with that distinct accent because it is influenced by their native language, which is Italian and it is spoken differently. A Filipino, whose first language is Filipino (the prestige register of the Tagalog language according to Wiki and is influenced by the Spanish language) also pronounces some English words different from the American English. I, for one, usually mispronounces the word ‘comfortable’, putting the stress in the wrong syllable, thus resulting to my bf M (well ex now) always correcting me. It’s because in Filipino, the word is pronounced differently.

They said American English is good and the accent is somehow easier to understand. The trainers in the call center industry aim to have the trainees speak the American way (or at least that was the scenario a few years ago, because I think gone are the days when you have to speak in their twang in order to land a job in a call center.) Others said, British English is better because that is the ‘REAL English’ and it is sophisticated. Well, as my British friend would say, POSH! 😀 I think the reason most of us give high regards to the American and British English is because of our “everything-foreign-attitude.” Most of us, Filipinos and others from non-English speaking countries desperately want to sound like the natives, with all that accent. But it’s their language. We have our own too and we should speak better in our own languages than the foreign ones. I think what really matter is that we are able understand them and that we can be understood.

I don’t really want to get serious about this whole “Lee Da Hae insulting Filipinos” issue. Because well, I do know that it’s not true. Filipinos speak English well and not in that accent. (Come on, why would thousands and thousands of Koreans go to the Philippines every year to study English if they don’t think we speak English well?) However, I reacted via this blog post because it made me think why people are so crazy about acquiring American or British accent. Please tell me, why?

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